Bucket-door-closing mechanism



F. E. ARNDT.

BUCKET DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26. 1921- Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

2 anew-sum u.

F. E. ARNDT.

BUCKET DOOR CLOSING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, I921.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922;

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET Z- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, 0E GALION, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GALION IRON \VOR-KS &; MFG. 00., OF GALION, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

BUCKET-DOOE-CLOSING- MECHANISM.

Application filed March 26, 1921.

dling materials such as coal, ballast and the like, and particularly to means for closing the doors which control the discharge of material from the bottom of the bucket.

In handling machinery it is common to provide buckets which are loaded and then carried to a point of discharge and then lowered, such a bucket being provided with means whereby the doorswhich form the bottom of the bucket may be opened when the bucket is lowered into the proximity of a dump so that the contents of the bucket may be discharged upon the dump without undue breakage of the material. This is particularly necessary in carrying buckets handling coal.

The object of the present invention is to provide a very simple and readily operable automatically controlled means which will cause the closing of these doors when the bucket rises to its travelling position, in combination with means whereby the doors may be automatically opened upon the descent of the bucket to a predetermined point.

A further object is to provide a carrier which supports the bucket for travelling movement, the bucket being supported by a cable to the carrier-so that the bucket may be caused to descend or rise upon the winding up orunwinding of the cable, and provide coacting mechanism on the bucket and on the carrier whereby when the bucket rises into proximity with the carrier the doors forming the bottom of the bucket shall be automatically closed and whereby when the bucket moves downward from the carrier this auto matic closing mechanism shall bereleased, the doors being then held closed bymeans released when the bucket moves downward into proximity to the dumping point.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction and arrangement of parts as will, be hereinafter stated.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 1s a side elevation of a hoisting Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

Serial No. 455,902.

bucket and carrier constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the carrier and hoisting bucket the supporting rail being in section;

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view of the means for causing the automatic closing of the bottom doors of the bucket showing the parts in the position taken when the doors are closed;

Figure 4 is a like view to Figure 3 taken when the doors are open;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fi ure 4t;

*igure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view through the bottom and one end of the bucket;

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a rail forming partof a supporting structure, such as is illustrated and described in my pending application for patent, Serial No. 455,903, filed of even date herewith. This rail or supporting beam is in the form of an I-beam. Operating upon this rail and supported thereby is a carrier, designated. generally 11, this carrier being formed essein tially of two plates 12 disposed on each side of the I-beam-IO and embracing this I-beam the upper corners of these plates carrying the supporting wheels 13 which bear upon the base flanges of the I-beam. Having bearing engagement in the lower corners of the plates 12 are the transverse shafts le supporting the grooved wheels 15. Passing over these grooved wheels is a cable 16 which between the wheels forms a bight.

The bucket, which is designated generally 17, has the usual form, the bottom of the bucket body being open, this open bottom be ing normally closed by two downwardly inclined doors l8 hinged at 19 to the side walls of the bucket body. Disposed above the bucket body and extending parallel to the side walls thereof and above the middle of the bucket body are a pair of parallel channel irons 20. These channel irons are connected to each other in any suitable manner, and riveted, bolted or otherwise attached to the ends of the channel irons are the downwardly extending hangers 21. These hangers at their lower ends are formed with bearings for trunnion pins 22 which are attached in any suitable manner to the ends of the bucket and project outward and pass through the irons in the lower ends of the hangers Thus the bucket is pivotally supported. ,A collar 23 is also supported upon the end of each trunnion pin held in place by a cotter pin 24.

Attached to the beams 20 are upwardly extending supporting irons 25 which extend upward and then inward above the beams 20, then' straight'upward and are attached to each other by transverse bolts 26 and held spaced from each other by spacer sleeves 27.

The upper ends of these irons 2d are engaged with each other by a U-shaped member 28. Mounted between the irons 25 and upon the bearing supported by the beams 20 is a grooved wheel 29 beneath which and around which the bight of the cable 16 passes. One end of this cable 16 is attached at any desired point to the beam 10 or any other relatively fixed object, and the other end of the cable 16 is connected to a winding drum of any suitable or usual construction (not shown). It will be obvious now that when the cable 16 is unwound from the drum, that the bucket will descend, and that when the cable is wound upon the drum, thebucket will ascend.

As before stated, means is providedfor opening the doors 18 when the bucket is lowered from a point in engagementwith the carrier 11 and reaches its discharge point. e The particular means for automaticallyopening the doors forms the subject matter of a pending application of even date herewith, Serial No. 455,903, and any suitable means may be used for causing the opening of the doors when the bucket has been lowered to a predetermined point, this present application having to do entirely with the means whereby the doors are automatically closed-when the bucket has been raised to its highest point.

The means for this purpose is as follows: Mounted upon the carrier 10 are two down- I wardly extending U-shaped members 30, these members being rigidly mounted upon the carrier and extending downward any desired distance. Mounted upon the beams 20 in bearing brackets disposed above these beams are transverse shafts 31. Each of these shafts carries upon each end a grooved wheel 32 and adapted to be wound upon these grooved wheels are the cables 33 which extend directly downward and pass over the rollers or sheaves 34:. There are two cables at each end of the bucket and two sheaves connected to the corresponding door, the rod 36 sliding through the lug at the upper end of the iron 38:

It will be obvious now that a draft upon the cables 33 will cause the compression of the springs 37 and these, acting through the lugs oi the irons 38, will draw the doors to a closed position. Each shaft 31 carries upon it a pinion 39 and this pinion is engaged by a vertically extending rack bar 40. There are two of these rack bars disposed at opposite ends of the beam 20, each of these rack bars being slidingly mounted in a.

bracket ll/this bracket 41 constituting means" for supportmg the corresponding shaft 31 and the bracket holdingthe rack teeth of the rack bars 40 in engagement with the corresponding pinion 3 1 It will be obvious now, assuming that the doors are open, thatupon the upward move ment of'the bucket the rack' bars &0, which were forced upward'by the ope'ning'movement of the doors, will eventually strike against the ends of the depending members 30, and as the bucket continues to moveupward, the rack bars l0 willbe forced down ward, thus rotatingthe winding shafts:31

in a direction to cause the groovedwinding' wheels or drum 32 to raise the doors to their closed position, where these doors are held by suitable latching'devices which do not form the subject matterof this present case. long as the bucket is held raised, the stops constituted by the lower ends of the members i 30 will prevent any reverse movement ottherack bars 40, but as soon as the bucket has lowered, the racks 4O w1ll be freed so that when themeans holding the doors closed is released, as by contact of such means with the pileof'coal on the dump,ithe doors will automatically open and swing downward,

thus again drawing the rack bars upward 1nto position to be engaged by the depending members 40 when the bucket is again raised.

While I do not wish to be limited to the use of any particular door latching and unlatching means, in combination with the means for closing the doors, yetin order to show a complete bucket I have illustrated thedoors as being held closed by means of alatching mechanism as follows: Each door each other and are fastened at their intersee-- tion by a transverse pin 47. Disposed below the bucket are the tranversely extending angle lrons 4-8 held in spaced relation to each other by the spacing sleeves 49, and extending through the ends of these angle irons and through the spacing sleeves are the bolts 50. Pivoted to each of thesebolts are the upwardly and inwardly extending members 51, each pair of members being pivoted upon a bolt 43- and extending beyond this pivotal point and being connected. by a transverse bolt 52. When the doors are closed, the weight of the transverse bars as transmitted through the members 51 acts to shit the links 42 and at into a position slightly out of alignment with each other, the further movement of the links being prevented by the stop bolt 52.v When, however, the bars 48 strike the ground or strike the coal heap, the bars as move upward, the members 51 will move upward, and the links 42 and M will break at their point of pivotal connection 13 and fold to thus permit the doors to swing open. The doors may then be closed by the means heretofore stated.

I claim:

1. A material transporting means comprising a carrier, a bucket having a downvardly opening door, a hoisting cable operatively supporting the bucket on the carrier and permitting, the bucket to be raised or lowered, and means automatically closing the door whenthe bucket has been raised to a predetermined distance.

2. A material transporting means comprising a. carrier, a bucket having a downwardly extending door, a hoisting cable operatively supporting the bucket on the carrier and permitting the bucket to be; raised or lowered, and means automatically closing the door when the bucket has been raised a predetermined distance, comprising a shaft, a winding wheel thereon, a cable operatively connected to the door and to said wheel, and means mounted upon the carrier and causing the rotation of said shaft in a direction to wind up the cable upon the arrival of the bucket at a predetermined distance from the carrier.

3. A material transporting means com prising a carrier, a bucket having a downwardly opening door, a hoisting cable operatively si'q'iporting the bucket and the carrier and permitting the bucket to be raised or lowered, means automatically closing the door when the bucket has been raised a predetermined distance the carrier comprising a; shaft, a winding wheel thereon, a cable operatively connected to the door and to said wheel, a rack associated with the bucket and engaging said pinion, and a stop member mounted upon the carrier and against which the rack abuts when the bucket is raised to a predetermined position, said stop member acting thereby to depress the rack and rotate the winding wheel.

4'5. A. material transporting means including a carrier, a track supporting the same,

means for moving the carrier upon the track, a bucket, a hoisting cable operatively connected to the bucket, hinged doors normally closing the bottom of the bucket, means for 7 shaft, a pair of grooved winding wheels carried upon each shaft, cables attached to the winding Wheels and extending downward and being operatively connected to the doors, a vertically movable rack coacting with each pinion, and depending members mounted upon the carrier in alignment with said rack and with which the racks engage when the bucket is raised to a predetermined height to thereby cause the depression of said racks and the winding up of the cables upon the grooved wheels.

5. In a material transporting mechanism, a supporting rail, a wheeled carrier moving upon said rail, a pair of supporting sheaves mounted upon the carrier, a hoisting cable passing over said supporting sheaves, means connected to the carrier whereby it may be shifted along the rail in either direction, a bucket, hinged doors at the bottom of the bucket, a beam extending longitudinally of the bucket and above the same, hangers depending from the beam and pivotally connected to the bucket, a sheave operatively supported upon said beam and beneath which the hoisting cable passes, means for holding said doors closed, said means being releasable when the bucket is lowered to a predetermined distance from the carrier, means for closing said doors comprising a pair of transverse shafts mounted. upon the ends of said transverse beam, a pinion on each shaft, a pair of winding wheels on each shaft, cables passing over the winding wheels and extending downward and being operatively connected to the doors, vertically movable rack bars engaging saidpinions and mounted upon the ends of said transverse beam, and depending stop members mounted upon the carrier in alignment with said rack bars with which the rack bars are adapted to engage when the bucket is raised into proximity to the carrier whereby to force the rack bars downward and rotate said winding wheels to cause the closing of the doors.

6. A material transporting means comprising a bucket having a downwardly opening door, means for hoisting the bucket, means for closing the bucket when the bucket has been hoisted to a predetermined point comprising a shaft, a cable operatively connected to the door and operatively connected to said shaft, a vertically mevable member mounted upon the bucket and ope-ratively engageeble with said shaft to cause its rotation when the member isshifted, and a fixed stop member operatively supported above the bucket and against which the shiftable member abuts when the bucket is raised to a predetermined position, said stop member acting to depress the shiftable member and thereby rotate said shaft. 10

In testimony whereof I afiix my signat'ure.

FRANKLIN ARNDT. 

